In the medical/dental/medically related field, disposal of infectious waste has become a source of serious concern. No longer is the disposal problem only in regard to hospitals. As government regulations tighten, even small producers of hazardous medical/dental waste such as dentists and doctors offices must comply with stringent guidelines.
Of particular importance is the disposal of hypodermic needles used in administering medicines and taking body fluid samples. Many mechanical needle bending devices have been proposed which prevent needle reuse, and recent government guidelines discourage this practice, also the parts contacting the needle could not be sterilized. This had to be performed as an additional step.
One needle destruction device, U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,169 uses electric current to burn the needle to prevent its reuse. Some degree of sterilization may occur during electrical destruction of a portion of the needle. Furthermore, contamination of the syringe engaging the above device will occur. No provision is made for sterilization of the needle destruction device itself.
From the above, it can be seen that there is need for a small destructing device which combines sterilization via autoclaving with prevention of needle reuse. Consequently, it is desirable that such a device both quickly destroy used needles and is readily sterilizable.